A Dark Panorama Graytown, Victoria, Australia
By Derringer on 08-Nov-05. Waypoint GCR8N4

Steep climb but well worth the views!

What a walk up the front on 2 mounts today. Very steep! Didnt have much time to enjoy the view on this one as the rain appeared halfway up.

Brutal climb up with a nice reward

Tricky hike up but a sunny day with zero muggles quick find once we got to the top!

Reading some of the earlier logs, it seems there might be more than one road to get to this cache. But we turned the T2.5 ascent to GZ into a T4.5 by walking up the very steep track. Our walking poles were certainly worth using and we found a slightly easier path down from GZ, to arrive safely back at the GeoCruiser. SL at 3.15pm Took: Tigger the tiger (we might turn him into a Trackable) Left: our newest Flapper Girl pathtag and also replaced the broken cache container. 2 Derringer caches on the same day! We will sleep well tonight. #10,357 TFTADVENTURE Derringer - another old cache of yours conquered on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

On a 4wd adventure through the area today we came across this little beauty after a challenging hill climb. ??

Found while doing a 4wd navigation event in the area
Tftc
Great views

Definitely great spot and a big hike.
Parked the car at bottom of the track but heard other big rigs coming up by car.
Also beware of spiders!!!
And sadly human leftovers

I can certainly appreciate the history of flooding in the area today as evidence of the recent floods is everywhere. At the bottom of the hill i wondered how you named this one, but my vision went dark too while climbing that steep pinch, now i understand. The view from the top however is magnificent, thanks for sharing.

Well that was a fun hike to the top but well worth the views. Now to get myself safely down haha thanks for the cache and thanks to the person that left Tigger. He is still safely in there for someone else to find Happy Caching!

19 August 2022
3:10 pm
2488

Hi Derringer, I found A Dark Panorama today. Definitely was a challenging drive to get to the top!

Many thanks Derringer for providing and maintaining this game piece for our enjoyment.

Well I did this one the hard way. Parked the geo-motorcycle at the bottom of the hill, and in full riding gear did the bloody steep climb up to GZ. Was pleased to get the prize and the views. A favourite Point given for location.

After a couple of hot days and a couple of wet days I came out here for the cache at the bottom of the hill. Since it was nice and cool I decided to enjoy the mild conditions and revisit this one after 3 years. Cache is happy and healthy in its hidey hole...

Staying in Heathcote for a few days and decided today would be a caching day. It turned out to be quite a solid day so just as sell i began very early Venturing a bit further afield now to clean up a few caches that are scattered about Well where do I begin. Definitely made this waaaay harder than a 2.5T as I walked up that very steep incline from the nearby cache. Great view from the summit and then a very treacherous descent. Came to grief there but luckily still in one piece What an adventure A FP coming your way TFTC Derringer

This cache has been on my radar for years now!
It has teased me many times as I have driven past it
I've been told that I shouldn't go and get it in the almost dark
Yet still I've wanted to find it for ages[^][^]
Today was the day that I finally managed to get here and claim the find on this 16 year old cache[:X][^]
kernalcache drove us out here[^]
I had high hopes that we'd be able to scale the mountain in his 4WD but something was said about 'too steep' and 'no way!'
My GPSr said '382m' that way and of course, that way was UP![xx(]

Dodgy hips and knees[xx(][xx(] made this a slow journey going up for me
My 2 companions, Rex[:X] and kernalcache both beat me up the hill and back down again[:o)]
Although Rex did come back up to me[:X][^], after kernalcache got him a drink from the car, and showed me the easiest way to get down the last half of the hill![:X][^][:X]
It took me about an hour to get up to the cache[xx(] and then about 2 hours to get down again[xx(]
The elation of finally finding this cache though[^], with great company, made this a definite highlight cache for me[^][^]
1 cache found today and what a smiley cache it was![^][:X]
We even had blasting sounds emanating from the nearby quarry to keep us company too

TNLN. SL. TFTC Derringer

Wow. Thought this might be an easy drive past type cache. Was i wrong. This is so worth it for the steep ascent and view. Tftc.

Actually got these two yesterday, New Years Eve, on a glorious day weather wise. Have had another good break away camping in Whroo. Both caches here were found in good condition. Tftc. Enjoyed the walk up this hill, although muggle hubby complained about the effort used. Tftc again. Favourite awarded

A Dark Panorama.
This is something I have wanted to get for a long time now.
Talking to Dalerious we decided to take the Toyota Ute and give it a go but at 88 metres we decided walking was the preferred way to go.
Great to sign the log and enjoy the view. Many grass trees which made a spectacular view.
Thanks for the placement and care of this cache

Found on a crazy day's missions with Cybergran V.
Having completed a D5/T5 cache earlier in the day, we were still in the mood for doing impossible things.
I had heard some dark stories about accessing Dark Panorama, so Halloween seemed the perfect day to scale Mt Black.
I guess from the right car, on the right track, it really is just a T2.5 with the top bit being quite pleasant to stroll around and explore. Hiking up might deserve a bit more, but either way its like skating on marbles.

TFTC Derringer. Another amazing location and amazing view to bring us to.
Thanks WeAreGleesos for the PT.

Cache and contents found clean and dry and returned in good condition using current covid safe practices.

I have given this area many black looks since an earlier attempt to locate this cache, after sliding down backwards in the XTrail, as a result of trying to attempt it on the wrong road.
In a proper 4WD, on the right track, it is far more accessible.
In my youth we didn’t live very far from here, at Wirrate, and I never realised what a view could be had from up here, as we never came up to the top.
The wildflowers on the mountain at the moment are a sea of yellow with the occasional sighting of a very vivid blue one.
I was interested in the trig point at the top but the construction is now defunct. Thankyou dalerious for bringing me here today.
So pleased to finally have my name added to this log.
Thanks for placing the cache here Derringer.
I can now smile as we drive past here.

I finally reached the top! The struggle was very real. Having to abandon my vehicle with roughly 500m to go, I thought, this can’t to be too hard....yeah I was wrong. Geowife and geokids did the first 150m or so but I felt it would be too hard for the kids, so I ventured on solo. I know I’m totally unfit and overweight...but I was not giving up. I finally reached the summit...and after about 10mins got my breath back...I soon had cache in hand. The struggle was totally worth it...the views back towards my home town of Rushworth were breathtaking. Thanks so much for bringing me here Derringer...a FP for this!

Love being able to get outdoors again and Derringer caches are always in fantastic but lesser known locations that promise a mini challenge

Living in Pascoe Vale gives one lots of urban hill practice - we parked the 4x4 at the bottom and scrambled 480 odd metres up the goat track

Surprised and delighted to find the original log book still here and still in good nick!

Thanks for the cache - took nothing, left a small butterfly fridge magnet - a good cache deserves some swag

Now to get back down...!

Found after a steep walk. Glad I did not try the drive as there are many trees down over travk and as this was an impromptu search I did have all the good stuff on board. Nice one. TFTC.

Found it with the Warrens

Great view. Nice drive all the way up too I did hold on

Found after a 500m uphill walk as the geo corolla could go no further. Nice around views. Pity the trig point has been knocked down. Anyway TFTC Inspectorrex and team

My work in Shepparton is done and it's time to head home. It's going to be warm today so I headed off early.
Parked at the bottom of the hill and headed directly up the side on foot. There are a couple of vehicle tracks leading to the summit but they are rough and loose so it's just as well I didn't take that option.
Made the summit and found the box. Signed the log and explored a little further to appreciate the view before heading back down..

Got fairly close by 4x4. But needed to slog up the hill. Found first go, and then had a look around the top. Nice spot for a cache. Thanks.

WOW. Was that an adventure. As the terrain rating wasn't too high, we decided to drive. Well we certainly didn't make it to the cache and the rest of the walk wasn't particularly easy either. The 4x4 seems to have forgotten that it goes oh so much better with all feet on the ground, not 3, so not having diff locks, we had to abandon and continue on shanks pony. Not sure that the terrain rating is particularly accurate but the cache was found, signed and returned. Stunning day for it I must say. We will certainly be back to explore this area better.
Thanks for the cache and introducing us to yet another awesome place to explore.

Must say I believe the terrain rating may be a little low for the retrieval of this cache but retrieve it we did. We took the 4x4 as far as we thought safe (no diff lockers didn't help) and walked the rest of the way. Cache located, signed and returned.
Loved driving in here from the Shepparton side, taking as many tracks as we could. Love the chance to not drive on the black top. Will certainly be back to explore the area more thoroughly. Thanks for the cache and introducing us to another stunning area to explore.

Well this Hill is defiantly steeper than the last we climbed! Thanks for bringing us here! TFTC!

Talk about adventure. In the White Knight with Nanton34 and EighthKnox we set off from base camp and Negambie Caravan Park telling the Geowives we were just going to get some wood! With full intentions of heading for this cache we headed off up the Black Quarry Rd. Getting close to the South track i got out locked the hubs and put the White Knoght in low range 2nd gear. DO NOT ATTEMPT this track unless you have a raised 4WD with mud tyres and you are a very experienced 4WD driver. It is extremely rough with very loose rocks and it's very steep. Nevertheless we charged up the hill bouncing and rocking the whole way to the top. The cache was a very easy find once there but i had a lot of trouble signing it because i was still shacking from the adrenaline. Heading down whist still challenging was no where near as bad. Pulling into camp with a roof full of wood the first thing we were asked by the Geowives was "How was the cache" Busted!
TFTC.

Off to "collect firewood", nanton34, whyt knight and white knight (the 4wd beast) decided to tackle this one on four wheels rather than on foot. It turned out to be quite the adventure to our surprise. A nice view up the top and a brief search before the smaller than expected cache was in hand. Tftc

Whyt Knight and eighthknox had both got news vans so as is customary a weekend trip up to Nagambie was in order to give them a test run. Being a short trip and with the weather looking ordinary the kayaks were left at home so a different adventure was on the cards. I had looked at the nearby caches and this one caught my eye. I had seen a few mentions of this being accessible in a 4wd and Whyt knight beast and namesake the White Knight seemed like just the right vehicle to take the challenge. Telling the wives we were going looking for wood we jumped in the White Knight and made the short drive to the bottom of the hill. We looked at the track and decided it was a go. As we ventured further up the hill the challenge presented to us became more apparent. By the time we were within 80m of the cache the road was rutted and rocky. I began to doubt we could get there but whyt knight and The White Knight proved me wrong. Once at the top the cache was quickly found however we took a moment to compose ourselves before attempting the descent. An awesome adventure TFTC

Zig zagged my way to the top. Found the cache and took in the view. The trig point has seen better days! Dropped back down the way I went up. No problem.
TFTC

Boy was this ever hard! After leaving my car at the appropriate place, it was nearly 500 metres of one step up followed by a slide down on all fours at times. The ground gouged by 4 WD's was soft and the stones were loose. I decided to leave that track but the stoney ground still gave way. Coming down was equally difficult! I think this climb and its descent was a greater degree of difficulty than indicated. Coming to the top was such a relief. I would have liked to leave a TB here but the cache was already full. Thanks for the cache Derringer. It was quite an achievement for me.

This entry was edited by o.kay on Sunday, 02 August 2015 at 22:22:17 UTC.

Found on ANZAC day family trip out to explore Whroo forest. Nice steep uphill climb had nearly all of complaining and marvelling at the audacity of some 4WDers!!

Long up hill walk but the veiw is worth it. TFTC

found it.
TFTC

Another hike to the top, we thought the last one was steep but this one was steeper. A bit of looking and the cache was in hand. TFTC

After a steep climb we found it. TFTC

Date: 5 December 2014
Time: 19:43
Find #4268

Took an extra day of annual leave so I could head up to Nagambie to do some much needed maintenance on my caches up there. I had heaps of time, so Decided to stop on the way for some nice quick driveby's.

After spending five hours doing cache maintenance on the Golburn river, I decided to find a few more caches myself. parked down below for this one, a little tricky walk in spots with loose rocks and sandy earth, it was quite slippery. In the end, slow and steady won the race and before too long, I was on the top of Mount Black at the trig point. The GPSr started playing funny business here, but it eventually settled, pointing me in the right direction for a quick find.

Thanks to Derringer for placing this cache. TNLN

Tricky, slippery climb up here. Rewarded with a foggy view. Still worth it though.

To drive a 4WD absolutely necessary - Nearly impassable in wet to access. Just made it, again clever hiding spot. Signed log and admired the views.
Redtag75

Camping on Majors Creek for two weeks over Easter, relaxing, fishing... and the odd cache along the way.
Parked to the west and slogged it up the hill leaving 79 year old father to rest half way up (yes, I picked him up on the way back). Got to the trig point with 10% battery life left on my iPhone and so it was a very hasty find. Magic views.
TFTC Derringer.

After the 'circus' that was getting to the nearby "A Dark View",(GCR8N5), I was reluctant to repeat the mayhem that got me to that cache
So with the geomobile safely parked at Melvilles Lookout I packed the backpack and set off on foot to the hill clearly visible about 2 kms away
On a beautiful summers day, who wouldn't ?

The stroll through the scenery was fabulous.
And only about 50 minutes later I was standing by the trig point on this hill taking in the views and looking over at the geomobile parked on the other hill

The cache was an easy find and I sat down to sign the logbook and have morning tea
Sardines in tomato sauce on wholemeal bread !!
The geologists staple [:o]

The walk back across the valley to the other hill was just as enjoyable via a more circuitous route

TFTC

Good find

Arduous climb made only by greg today. My now healed broken leg did not feel safe on lowere rocky areas, so I retreated back to the car. What a lovely drive in to cache with all those black boy trees. TFTC

Found by Ferg, Jan & Greg 01/05/10. Not a bad effort for three senior citizens. After an arduous climb because the road was deeply rutted, we found a second track that would have taken us at least part way by 4WD. Thanks for the incentive to make that climb to a fantastic view.

What a nice morning for coming to a beautiful location to find my second cache back from my time when I was not geocaching! I found this one with pickupfamily dad and pickupdragon.
WE couldn't make it all the way to the top in the car so we had a 550 metre hike up the mountain. Great views at the top though.
Personally I would not recommend going up in a car with a low ground clearance.
TNLN TFTC

Pickupfamily Dad made the trek this morning with kids Pickup Tiger and Pickup Dragon. This is the first cache I've deliberately sought out in Australia for over 12 months, and it was a fitting cache. I'd wanted to come back here after Pickup Tiger and I found the companion cache (A Dark View) years ago. We took a fairly slow walk up the south spur and enjoyed the view from the top, stopping for a small "picnic". The campers and motorbikers were settling in when we returned to the car at about 1pm, but we had enjoyed the serenity earlier. Luckily I had some smaller swaps with me, so the kids left a combination lock and took a stretchy snake. Thanks for again providing a great outing for us, Derringer.

Fanatastic mountain to climb and visit.

Couldn't quite get the car to the top, but after returning and checking others maps (google) might have been able to take the track up the south ridge. The hike up the last 250mtrs was great.

TFTC.

Found with Maggot-Man. Great views, but gee, what a bloody climb.

awesome veiws hard to get to the top
found with propeller-head
TFTC

Nice little climb! Got the heart pumping!
Great view once you get there, though.
T- Lizard
L- "Tigger" Key Ring
SL
TFTC

Number two on my Graytown bush tour. Approached this one from the western side and was able to drive half way up the hill. Track go a bit dodgy and the decision was made to reverse to a safer parking spot (mainly 'coz I ran out of traction and was a long way from any help if things turned ugly).
A short walk/climb up and the the cache was quickly found and signed.

Ah, I'm always up for the ascent of a mountain! Parked the car at the base and was soon huffing and puffing my way up to the top of this particular peak. Reached the trig at 10:30am and soon had the cache in hand. Being the adventurous type, I was determined to ensure that I had completely 'bagged' this particular mountain, and so continued along the crest for a couple of hundred meters to ensure there wasn't any higher areas. There wasn't, and so I returned back to the car. On the way back down it soon became evident that Teva sandles are not the ideal footwear for this loose, rocky terrain!

TNLN. Thanks Derringer for introducing me to this particular mountain!

Found at 1325. I had fully prepared myself for a 2-3 km walk, as it had recently rained, and driving a 2wd. But as it was, I managed to get to 450m of GZ for a quick dash up to the top for some nice but limited foggy views.

Great spot.

TFTC.

We had completed the little sister some time ago but had never wandered back this way again. Today it was the main goal for the day. The 2 12 yo girls managed to get up the hill fairly easily, Mr Morris strode up confidentally and Lady Morris spent most to the trip up trying to work out a legitimate excuse to stop. Eventually all were at the top and as it was such a beautiful day the view was stunning.

Back down the hill and to the picnic spot near the quarry where someone had kindly left a small fire for us. A great cache on a great day.

It was good to be out doing a few caches in a part of the country I have never been to, I huffed and puffed my way up the track to find the cache and enjoy the view. Thanks Derringer for the cache.

Having done A Dark View the easy way there was no such offering here, so Acts2youthgroup and I climbed the hill slowly but steadily. Once at the top it was an easy stroll to gz where he found the cache after a short search. Three Derringer caches in a row! Thanks for putting them out here.

Found at 10.35am GAFF1 in the company of Rabbitto. We could see this location (sort of) from Dark View, so we were hoping that there was going to be a nice track that took us right to the top, however the track that we did find only took us up to within 260m of GZ - the Patrol decided it was going to just spin its wheel in the loose and deeply rutted track and stay there. So off we went on foot and after a 10 minute walk we were rewarded with another view of the district. Thanks Derringer - another beauty. tn/ln

I found our 6th Derringer cache in the company of Pprass at 10:40am as the 3rd of 17 on our Shepparton Shuffle I. Another late addition to our hunt and a great partner to it's sister cache nearby. Pprass had a good crack at the loose track which meant we only had half the climb but I was happy to hike it as I didn't like his chances on the next 40m or so. Yet another great Derringer cache which is especially nice at this time on a nice day. Thanks for the cache from D B-A.

[189] 12.20pm - Found with cdmark - Well we all made it to the top to take in a nice view! puff puff - and we again saw a lot of grass trees getting here - TFTC Derringer - sorry for the late log.

[This entry was edited by Team GraMon on Saturday, December 15, 2007 at 11:33:33 PM.]

Our second find on our Melbourne Cup caching day with Team GraMon. We had tried this one earlier in the year but the poor mazda wagon just didn't have enough grunt to make it (came close though!). Ventured out today with the new wheels and got a little closer. We had an enjoyable walk and climb to the top and a magnificent view indeed. I managed to startle a large black wallaby up the top and he/she bounded off fairly quickly. The well hidden cache took a little bit too find but we eventually had it in hand and it remains in good nick. GeoJnr enjoyed the piggyback up and down from GZ and I must admit that Mon did very well with the climb and so did D who is 13 weeks into the creation of another cacher! TFTC Derringer. Cheers.
T: Car
L: Snake and Lizard.

Hard climb wish we had taken the track. Fantastic view, thanks Derringer.
T - geo coin
L - SUV car keyring

Penndragon finally made it to the top after turning back first time. Got second wind and got there eventually, met ohbeeone at top found cache took mondo left shackle and had more adventure on way down when we took wrong direction back to car. Thanks derringer

Found today accompanied by Penndragons and new chums, strenuous climb, found some tyre tracks on top but could not see an easy way up. Great views, lovely day. TNLN Thanks Derringer

Having done the other cache I just had to do this one. This one however presented it's own new challenge, road???. I only had a short look but couldn't find a way to the top and being a Derringer figured there probably wasn't one so parked and walked quickly up to the cache only to find a road . Cache found much easier this time. TN dropped in geocoin.
TFTC

After completing the nearby Dark View Stickler and I tackled the steeper climb of Panorama. It was a pity the smoke was around so unable to get the best view.

TNLN

A good shortish walk straight up, but Phanton51 and I found an easier way down.

Parked down the hill and made the steep climb up. The views today were sensational. Thanks Derringer for bringing me here with these two caches.

Had heard a number of people had walked to this cache and complained of sore legs, much easier if you drive to the top

I arrived just on dusk, climbed to the top and had to walk down in the dark - not recommended, best attempted in day light. TNLN thanks Derringer.

It took me ages to find a road that even got close to the mountain. I came from the Rushworth side and eventually found a way in after getting onto the sealed road connecting Nagambie and Graytown. Once there I was able to get the twin 'Dark' caches easily enough - except for the climb! My legs still hurt. The view was well worth it however, thanks Derringer.

R - B

We easily got to the base of the mountain and the walk up was less effort than we expected. Nearing the top, there was a sound of heavy digging. We had a bit of apprehension that we were about to interrupt a murderer disposing of a body. The lack of any vehicle helped to reduce the worry. We found nothing so we suspect that it must have been due to some wildlife - possibly an emu. It went quiet when we got to the summit. The cache was easily found at 5:00pm. There is a great view from here and the sunset was just starting. We would have stayed but we wanted the light for the trip down. We took a dinosaur (pterodactyl) and left a "Rome 1AD" figurine. Thanks Derringer for the cache.

Another good view here. Spoted some roos here too. On the way in passed a big Bee hive site. By the time I got to the cache I was a bit hoter. Have been here too when assessing the area for out door activitys. The cache was an easy find.
TB ear shell visited

Thanks Derringer

Found 4pm. Drove half way the hill as far as the track took us, found quickly after the climb and a few deep breaths. First time out in this area, our base camp is Murch and was expecting it to be much more flat. How wrong! Took duck + girl figurine, left dinos. Thanks Derringer

With very little light left we started our ascent with the sun rapidly going down. With 270 metres to go and the track starting to get very steep we knew that we wouldn't get there before last light. We were anticipating some more spectacular views and decided to return another day when we could enjoy them properly

found by Bevfre 11.45am LNTNSL After the climb and came back to base Bev had a cup cf tea ready for me which was very welcome and refreshing.Thank you Derringer

Found by Mary & David at 1945. A quick find after a not-so-quick ascent. Great views in the evening light. Several wallabies on guard. TNLN, but rescued TB Nemo to visit somewhere new. Our thanks again to Derringer.

8.45am
Found by Roma and Max.
A beautiful spring morning and two new caches fairly close to home, was too much to resist. On reaching GZ we were greeted by a family of four emus, not at all disturbed by our presence. They remained no more than 6m away watching us search and log.
We took a very tall Green Frog and left a small Mondo Figurine.
Thanks Derringer for bringing us to this area, close by a site, of such WW2 significance.
Romax.

Published

Nemo TB is having a rest here for a while
Kevin